Bitten by the Speed Bug
by Super-sonic Iblish
Summary: Knuckles got bitten by the speed bug… literally! Dr. Eggman created a small, robotic bug to bite Sonic. He figured that if Sonic got a second dose of super-speed, they'd cancel out and Sonic would lose his super speed. But the bug just-so-happened to bite Knuckles instead. Now he's starting to like his new fast feet. Let's just see how this works out once Sonic gets jealous?
1. Chapter 1: Bitten

**All Sonic characters belong to Sega, not me. This takes place in Sonic X time, while they're on some random planet with the X Tornado. The good news is, no Chris!**

* * *

"You're too slow!"

Sonic zipped past Knuckles, nothing more than a blur of blue fur and red shoes. The blue hedgehog was running circles around the echidna again. And why, do you ask, was he doing so? Because he could, that's why!

Knuckles growled and balled up his fist, attempting to swing at the speedy hedgehog as he ran by. However, Knuckles missed the speedster, by a lot, actually. Sonic skidded to a stop behind Knuckles and chuckled.

"You missed… by a couple miles," he bragged, looking down at his fingertips with pursed lips. Knuckles whirled around to face Sonic, his fist still curled up, and he growled and swung at Sonic again, trying to catch him by surprise. But in the blink of an eye, Sonic seemed to have disappeared, and Knuckles' eyes widened. He looked back and forth, trying to figure out where his rival had gone. And suddenly, something smacked onto the top of his head. Sonic had leapt high into the air when Knuckles tried to punch him, and he landed by stepping straight onto Knuckles' head, and he then hopped to the floor next to Knuckles.

"You're so predictable! Try something different, Knucklehead!" Sonic smirked, and he proceeded to fake-yawn into his hand.

"Predictable? You call this predictable?" Knuckles asked, before he rushed away from Sonic and into the bushes. Sonic was confused for only a second, before he sighed, and he held out his hand behind him. And suddenly his hand was blocking a punch from Knuckles from behind, and he looked back at Knuckles to see his reaction. The echidna's eyes were wide, and he looked as though he was about to ask how he knew.

"Sneak attack from behind, yeah, totally called it!" Sonic said with lowered eyes and a smirk, and he let go of Knuckles' hand. Knuckles lowered his hand to his side next to his other one, and he just stood there, as Sonic took off in an instant, the winds of the sonic boom striking Knuckles' face a few moments after he disappeared. Knuckles sighed and sat down where he stood.

"It's not fair…" he muttered, "I'm twice as good a fighter as Sonic is, but I can't keep up," he said. "I just wish I had the chance to show him up…" Knuckles admitted. He knew it wasn't going to happen anytime soon, and tossing the silly dream aside in his mind, Knuckles stood up and trudged back to the ship. Amy was probably nearly done fixing up dinner by now, and after all that fighting, he had worked up an appetite.

* * *

"Oh hoho! This is it, this is definitely it!" Eggman exclaimed, as he stirred some concoction in a beaker with a spoon. His robotic sidekicks; Decoe, Bocoe, and Bokkun; peered behind their creator's shoulder at the bubbling blue concoction.

"What is it?" Bokkun asked curiously, his hands on Eggman's shoulder to push himself up higher to get a better look at it. Eggman looked up at Bokkun with a glare, and ignoring the immature robotic animal's actions, he spoke.

"This, my boys, is a special potion I made from Sonic's DNA," he replied. "It's designed to give you super speed equal to Sonic's!"

"That's a brilliant plan doctor!" Decoe said.

"Yes, if you took the potion, then you could finally catch up to Sonic, and hopefully defeat him!" Bocoe added.

"That's not the plan at all!" Eggman snapped, taking the beaker in his hands and sliding it away from the robots. "I'm going to insert the potion into this robotic bug," Eggman said, raising a small but robot from the table, "…And I'll send it after Sonic. I figured, if I gave him a second dose of his own speed, the original speed and the new speed would cancel each other out, and he'd lose his super speed!" he explained with an evil chuckle. All three robots looked at each other, sharing the same surprised look.

"Y-You're serious?" Bokkun asked Eggman.

"Yes I'm serious! When have I ever not been serious about these things?" the fat scientist snapped back. Decoe's and Bocoe's eyes rolled to the ceiling, but neither of them spoke up. "Well now, time to set this experiment to the test!" Eggman said, bringing the robots' eyes back to their creator.

Eggman filled the canister inside the body of the metal bug with the potion, and then brought it to a window and opened it.

"Sir, this isn't going to work," Decoe commented.

"Oh, what do you know? You've only got artificial intelligence!" was Eggman's only reply, and he pressed the power switch on the bug. The bug's eyes lit up red and its wings whirred to life. "Now go, make your papa proud!" Eggman said to the bug, and the bug flew up and off of Eggman's hands. It simply hovered for a few seconds, as little bleeps emitted from the machine, before it zipped forward and flew in quick bursts towards the preset coordinates of the X Tornado.

* * *

Sonic sat down at his seat on the X Tornado with his plate of food. Everyone else sat down in a different seat, following Sonic's lead, and they all began to eat. But then Tails looked up and glanced back and forth.

"Hey, Sonic, where's Knuckles?" he asked, looking to his brother. Sonic, still chewing, shrugged and then swallowed.

"The slowpoke is probably nearly here. He and I were doing some fighting practices, and he got into a hissy fit because I was too fast for him," Sonic replied.

"He didn't hurt you, did he?" Amy asked, quickly looking to Sonic with worried eyes.

"No worries, I'm fine. He couldn't even touch me!" Sonic bragged, giving Amy one of his trademark "thumbs up." Amy sighed dreamily and folded her hands in front of her chest.

"You're amazing Sonic!" she said with a big smile. Sweat formed on Sonic's forehead, and he rolled his eyes away from Amy.

"Y-Yeah… thanks," he murmured, before he turned back to his plate of food and shoveled a big mouthful into his mouth to try and prevent more conversation. He heard Amy giggle behind him, before she left, and he swallowed and sighed. That's when he, and the others, heard footsteps and they looked up. Knuckles walked onto the main deck, his head down, looking at him feet.

"There you are Mr. Knuckles! We were worried you wouldn't show!" Cream said with a smile, and she held up a plate of food to him. "Amy and I made spaghetti, want some?" she asked him. Knuckles gave her a courtesy smile and took the plate, but he wordlessly walked towards the corner and sat down to eat. It was awkwardly quiet for a few moments, before Tails looked to Knuckles and spoke.

"Knux, why don't you come and sit with us?" he asked, tapping the arm of the seat he sat on. Knuckles looked up when the fox called his name, but then he looked back down.

"No, I'm good here, thanks though," he said. Cosmo, who was still pretty new to the team, leaned towards Cream and whispered.

"Why is Knuckles acting so secluded?" she asked the rabbit.

"Mr. Knuckles likes being by himself a lot. He's lived most his life alone on Angel Island," Cream replied.

Knuckles overheard the girl's conversation, and he sighed and turned his back towards everyone. He hated it when people talked about him behind his back, even when they weren't really saying anything bad. Sonic saw what Knuckles was doing and sighed.

"Knuckles, are you going to sit here and ignore everyone all night?" he asked.

"I wouldn't have to ignore everyone if they'd just talk to my face instead of behind my back," Knuckles commented, not making eye contact with anyone.

"We aren't talking behind your back," Sonic replied, "Cosmo was just curious, that's all."

"Well then why didn't she just ask me?" Knuckles snapped, turning to glare angrily at Sonic. Cosmo looked between the two animals with fearful eyes. She felt as though she had started the fight.

"Why do you always have to yell?" Sonic demanded to Knuckles, standing up quickly and running up in front of Knuckles. Knuckles stood up as well, so his eyes were level with Sonic, and he snapped back a reply.

"Why do you always have to be such a show-off?" Sonic huffed and got closer up in Knuckles' face.

"Oh, this is still about me whooping your butt earlier, isn't it?" he demanded. Knuckles growled and clenched his fists.

"If you stopped running away all the time, I could've easily taken you down!" he yelled back. Cosmo quickly stood up and put herself in between the two of them.

"Please, we shouldn't be fighting!" she cried, "Why can't you two just get along and be friends?"

"I'll never be friends with that cocky hog!" Knuckles shouted, stepping aside to glare at Sonic again. Sonic turned to face the echidna again, completely ignoring Cosmo's pleas.

"And I will never get along with this angry hothead!" he snapped back, clenching his fists and leaning forward, right in Knuckles' face. The two animals glared at each other, head-to-head, with clenched teeth and growled at each other. They looked just about ready to pummel each other. Amy, Tails, and Cream rolled their eyes.

"Great… here we go again," Amy muttered under her breath.

* * *

The metal bug flew through the darkening forest, searching for the coordinates in which the enemy's ship was located. Finally, it bleeped, as it flew above the X Tornado, and it located an opening and dive-bombed into the ship. The bug free-fell through an exhaust pipeline that lead into the ship's engine, and it exited the engine and flew through the empty hallways. The bug flew towards the sound of voices, which took him to the main deck of the ship. It flew towards a group of animals near the front nose of the ship, and located which one of them was Sonic the hedgehog. It found Sonic, and flew at full force towards the hedgehog's waiting flesh.

Sonic leapt towards Knuckles first, and laid a punch to the echidna's stomach. The bug skidded to a stop in mid air when its target moved suddenly, and it relocated Sonic and aimed again.

Knuckles grunted in pain and stumbled backward a few steps, before he growled and ran at Sonic. Sonic, for once, didn't run, and he balled up a fist and aimed to punch Knuckles in the face. Knuckles, however, caught his fist in his large gloved hand, and used his other hand to deliver a much-needed uppercut to Sonic's jaw. Sonic flew into the air and landed on the ground a few feet away. The bug put its legs out in front of it to stop it from crashing into the wall, as it missed Sonic once again. The bug made a small, metallic growl of anger, and it locked its targets on Sonic yet again. Hoping the hedgehog wouldn't move again, the bug gave itself a push off the wall and burst at quick speeds towards Sonic, whose back was to it.

Sonic looked for Knuckles, who seemed to have disappeared. And suddenly, he heard a sound from behind him, and he whirled around. Knuckles was behind him, and he grabbed Sonic by the fur on his chest and aimed a fist to punch Sonic in the face. The bug landed on flesh, the back of the neck, and it rubbed its metallic legs together, and then bit down on the flesh, releasing the potion into the victim's blood.

Sonic flinched and closed his eyes, readying for Knuckles' probably painful blow, but it never came. Knuckles suddenly winced and let go of Sonic's fur.

"Ow!" he cried, and he swatted at the back of his neck with one hand. He felt something metal strike his hand upon impact, and the object on the back of his neck fell to the ground. Sonic took this opportunity to grab Knuckles by his dreadlocks and throw him over his shoulder. Knuckles flew, and landed several feet away on the ground. Sonic expected him to get up right away and retaliate, but instead, Knuckles slowly rose to his knees, and he put a hand to his head. Sonic took a couple steps towards Knuckles again, but then someone's voice cut in.

"Sonic, stop! He's had enough!" It was Amy! Amy came up to Knuckles, who looked up at her with squinting eyes. "You ok?" she asked him, extending a hand to help him up. Knuckles took her hand and got up, but his legs began to tremble, and his hand went back to his neck, as it began to sting. The skin around the area that hurt was growing hot, and it felt like it was swelling.

"I-I think I got bit… by some sort of bug," he mumbled, and he looked towards the ground where Sonic was. He saw the bug, which he'd broken under his hand when he swatted at it.

"Big deal, so you got bit by a mosquito? There are tons of 'em around here," Sonic commented.

"No… it isn't a mosquito," Knuckles said, and he walked towards the bug. He only took a couple steps before he stumbled, and Sonic rushed forward to catch him.

"Careful. I think you should sit," Sonic said to him.

"I don't need your help!" Knuckles snapped, pushing Sonic away. Everyone watched as Knuckles stumbled towards the little piece of metal, and he reached forward and picked up the sparking little bug. "This thing bit me," he said, his hand still on his paining neck. Tails stepped forward to take a look.

"It's sparking?" Amy murmured from where she stood.

"It's a robot," Tails replied, as he turned the broken robot over in his hands. Now Sonic wasn't quite as careless about the situation, and his back tensed.

"No doubt Eggman's behind this!" he said, clenching a fist. Knuckles' legs were beginning to grow weaker, and his knees buckled.

"Oh no," he mumbled, as his legs gave out and he fell onto his knees, using his free hand to keep his balance. Everyone looked to Knuckles with fearful eyes, and Amy, Cream, and Cosmo ran up to Knuckles' side to hold him up.

"Let me see the bite," Amy said, pulling at Knuckles' hand, which covered his neck. Knuckles reluctantly brought his hand away, and Amy gasped, covering her mouth to cover up a scream in disgust.

"Is it bad?" Knuckles asked. Amy didn't really want to say; the whole back of his neck was swollen, and the area of the bite was grossly blackish-red in color. Amy swallowed and looked to Cream, who was covering her eyes.

"N-No, it's not too bad," she lied, covering the wound with her hand, "But I need to bandage it and clean it, to make sure it doesn't get infected." She looked to Sonic, who hadn't seen the wound, and mouthed "please help me" to him. Sonic nodded, and he came up to Knuckles.

"C'mon, we're going to take you back to your room so Amy can fix you up," he said, taking Knuckles by his arm, and he lifted the echidna up to his feet. The moment he stood, his legs began to shake again, and he found himself leaning against Sonic.

"I can barely feel my legs, moron. Why stand me up?" Knuckles demanded to Sonic, glaring into his eyes. Sonic grunted from Knuckles' weight and readjusted his grip on Knuckles' body, looping his arm over his shoulder. Amy quickly took Knuckles' other arm, still covering his wound, and the two hedgehogs led him back to his room. Knuckles walked to the best of his ability, but his legs were like jelly, so he wasn't providing anything more than some support. Sonic looked behind Knuckles to Amy, and mouthed out "how bad is it, really?" Amy uncovered Knuckles' wound for a split second, to allow Sonic to see. From what Sonic could see, it looked terrible, and he grimaced slightly and looked back to his front. About halfway to Knuckles' room, the echidna moaned and brought a hand to his head.

"Oh, my head is spinning," he muttered.

"There must've been something in that bug when it bit you. Don't worry, I'll have Tails look over the bug to figure out what it did to you," Sonic assured. Knuckles made it a few more moments, but he was beginning to look paler and paler, and suddenly his eyes rolled to the back of his skull, and he collapsed entirely in Sonic' and Amy's arms. Amy yelped ever-so-slightly, as she gathered the echidna's dead weight in her arms, and then she looked to his face.

"Knuckles? Knuckles?" she called, and she gently tapped his cheek to try and wake him. But Knuckles had passed out, and he didn't wake by Amy's attempts. She looked to Sonic, who just stared at his rival with wide and worried eyes.

"What's wrong with him?" Amy cried to Sonic.

* * *

Knuckles groaned, his head spinning and his stomach nauseous, as he awoke from unconsciousness. He opened his eyes and looked around, to figure out that he was in his bedroom. Then he heard constant breathing and slight snoring to his left, meaning someone had fallen asleep waiting for him to wake up. He craned his neck to try and see who it was laying beside him, but that sent a pulse of pain down his spine and he stopped. He felt at his neck, to find a thick bandage wrapping around his entire neck. Even at the slightest touch, his neck hurt, and he spat a cuss under his breath and placed his hand back at his side under the covers. For a few moments, he just sat and stared up at the ceiling, listening to the unknown person's snoring and trying to guess who it was, but he soon found himself growing bored. His foot began to twitch, and he suddenly realized that he really wanted to stand up. Knuckles shifted his seating, and careful not to crane or turn his neck, he sat up in bed, his feet hanging over the side of the bed. He kicked on foot up into the air so he could see his feet, and he wiggled his toes and smiled a slight half-smile.

"Well, at least I can feel my feet again," he murmured to himself, and he tried standing up. He slowly pushed himself to his feet, his hands keeping his balance with his hands on the side of the bed. He let go of the bed and slowly stood up straight, and smiled a little bigger. "Yes! For a second, I was worried I'd lost my legs," he told himself. Knuckles took a couple steps forward, then backward, and then he stopped, a smile still on his face. "Sweet!" And suddenly, a voice spoke behind him.

"Oh, good, you're finally up!" Knuckles yelped, startled by the sudden voice, and he leapt pretty high into the air and turned around to face none other than Sonic the hedgehog. "Whoa, settle down twinkle toes!" Sonic exclaimed, his hands held in front of his chest defensively. "It's just me, Sonic!" Knuckles sighed a relaxing breath and muttered, "Phew, you scared me!" Sonic smiled deviously at Knuckles. "Well, someone's a little light on his feet today, considering he could barely feel them the other night," Sonic commented. Knuckles blinked at Sonic slowly with a slightly confused look, and then he spoke.

"I guess I just feel better?" he said, not sure if that was really the reason why himself. Sonic huffed and smirked at Knuckles.

"You really had us worried, y'know that?" he replied. Knuckles cocked his head, a brow raised.

"Why's that?" he asked, "I've been hurt worse before." Sonic sucked in a breath, his teeth clenched.

"Well, you see…" he started, reaching back to scratch at the back of his head nervously, "…Your wound was actually a lot worse than Amy made it seem," he admitted. "She just didn't want to scare you." Knuckles reached back to touch the bandages on his neck; big mistake! A flash of pain ran down his spine and he winced, hissing in pain.

"No no, don't touch it!" Sonic said, reaching for Knuckles' hand and taking it away. "It's still very tender," Sonic continued.

"Yeah, no kidding!" Knuckles replied, eyeing Sonic. "Has Tails figured out what was up with that bug that bit me?" he asked. Sonic shrugged.

"Don't know. I've been here all night," he replied. "Amy's been coming in here every once and awhile, but she said she knew noting either."

"Oh," Knuckles said quietly, his eyes trailing toward a blank wall and away from Sonic. The hedgehog stretched one arm, and spoke as he stretched the other.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm in the mood for walking around after being cooped up in here all night," he said. Knuckles looked back to Sonic.

"Can I join you? I kinda want to stretch my legs," he asked the blue hedgehog. Sonic was surprised by the echidna's actions; normally he never wanted anything to do with him, and now he wants to take a walk with him? Something felt odd about Knuckles, but Sonic couldn't put his finger on it.

"S-Sure…" Sonic replied, eyeing him a moment before he headed towards the door. "C'mon, I'll race you. Don't worry, I'll go slow," Sonic said, closing his eyes and smiling at his little joke. But he suddenly felt a breeze, and when he opened his eyes, Knuckles was gone, running down the hall already.

"No need!" Knuckles shouted behind him. Sonic rubbed his eyes a moment in shock, before he took off after Knuckles, catching up with him. The two of them ran side-by-side, and Sonic looked to Knuckles in surprise. Normally at this speed, it was a breeze for Sonic, but Knuckles was usually panting from exhaustion and couldn't normally run too long at that speed. But now he was keeping up perfectly, in fact, he was pulling ahead!

"Wow! I'm… surprised!" Sonic panted to Knuckles. The two of them stopped at the door to the ship, and Sonic pressed the button to open the door and looked to Knuckles as it opened. "How did you do that?" he asked him.

"Hmm?" Knuckles murmured, as he looked up at Sonic's curious face. "I-I don't really know," he said, "I guess I'm just in the mood for running today." Sonic made a dirty grin at his rival.

"Alright then, buddy, how about a real race this time, no holding back?" he proposed the contest, and his smile grew when Knuckles nodded in agreement.

"We start at three," Knuckles said.

"_I'm going to wipe the floor with him!"_ Sonic thought with a silent snicker. But Knuckles suddenly caught Sonic by surprise.

"123 GO!" Knuckles counted extremely fast, before Sonic had a chance to react, and suddenly Knuckles was off. He was gone in an instant, and a blur of red trailed off into the distance. Sonic's eyes widened, and his mouth gaped wide open. A couple of seconds later, Knuckles skidded to a stop in front of Sonic and gave him a wide, cocky smile.

"That was amazing! I've never run this fast in my whole life!" he exclaimed, and he leapt into the air. "Whoo, what a rush! My legs are still tingling!" Knuckles looked to Sonic to find him staring at him with wide eyes and his mouth hanging open. Knuckles came up to him and cocked his head. "Sonic? You ok?" he asked. Sonic shook his head and looked to Knuckles, raising his shoulders nervously.

"H-How..?" was all he could say, raising one hand to point a shaky finger at Knuckles, and his voice cracked and squeaked nervously. The corners of Knuckles' lips curled into a slight smile, considering how funny it was seeing his rival in utter shock and disbelief over something he'd done.

Sonic quickly reached out and grabbed Knuckles by the wrist, to take him to Tails' room immediately.

"Where are we going?" Knuckles asked, but Sonic didn't reply.


	2. Chapter 2: Subtle Changes

Knuckles sat on Tails' bed, while Tails unwrapped Knuckles' bandages on his neck.

"J-Just be careful, it's- OW!" Knuckles cried, as Tails unwrapped his bandages and took a look at his wound.

"Well, the bite looks better than it did yesterday," Tails observed, careful not to touch the wound.

"I swear, something was in that bug when it bit him yesterday!" Sonic exclaimed to Tails, who was re-wrapping Knuckles' bandages with new ones. "I've never seen him run that fast until now," Sonic continued.

"So what if I can run faster now?" Knuckles commented, eyeing Sonic with a glare, "You're not _jealous_, are you?" he asked. Sonic's eyes widened in alarm and he stepped back a footstep.

"Who ever said anything about me being jealous?" he demanded, raising a hand to his chest. Knuckles huffed with a small smirk and shook his head. "I-I'm not jealous! I worried about you!" Sonic defended, his tone becoming angry.

"Why would you be worried? It's just a little speed boost, not like I'm going to blow up!" Knuckles said, waving his hands dramatically.

"But just in case, I think I'm going to do a couple tests on you," Tails said, tapping Knuckles' shoulder after finishing the bandages. "…And the robotic bug too. I found nothing the first time, but maybe I missed something," he added.

"I'm going to go outside and get some fresh air," Sonic said, and he quickly ran out. Once outside the ship, he brought a hand to his head and let out a long sigh. "Why do I hate the idea of Knuckles being as fast as me?" he asked himself under his breath. "Maybe he's right… maybe I am jealous?" Sonic looked out into the forest and just stared for awhile, pondering about things as he let all the fresh air he wanted into his lungs. He stood for several moments, before he shook his head of his thoughts and took off for a run.

* * *

Eggman was watching Sonic as he ran, from afar, and he sighed.

"How long is it supposed to take for that bite to work?" he muttered, looking away from his window.

"I told you it was not going to work," Decoe said, who was sitting with Bocoe on the floor playing chess. Eggman growled angrily.

"You want me to remove your talking function, you bucket of tin?" he shouted angrily at the robot, who shuddered in its metal framing. Eggman turned back to the window and watched Sonic run in large circles and zig zags.

"I don't understand," he muttered to himself, "This seemed so foolproof at the time! I hope the bug didn't bite someone else instead."

* * *

Knuckles sat on the side of Tails' bed, but his foot was tapping impatiently. He was beginning to grow antsy again, and he was sick of sitting down.

"Tails, what're you doing now?" he asked the young fox. Tails looked up from his computer to his friend.

"Just analyzing your blood samples," he replied. Knuckles moaned of boredom and rested his chin on his hand, staring at the wall. A moment or two later, he heard Tails giggle.

"You're just as impatient as Sonic! Alright, if you want, you can take a 5 minute break," he said with a smile. Knuckles stood up and smiled at Tails.

"Thanks! Be back in a few!" he said, and he ran as fast as he could out the door and towards the outside world. Surprised at Knuckles' speed, Tails slowly blinked and lowered his hands from the keyboard.

"Whoa," he muttered, "Sonic wasn't kidding… something's up with him." Tails turned back to his computer and, with his newfound motivation, he began working faster to try and figure out what was happening inside of Knuckles' body.

* * *

Knuckles ran outside and stopped, closing his eyes to feel a nice, cool breeze. There were few cool days in the hot summer months on this planet, so this was rare, and Knuckles wanted to enjoy it. Knuckles made a smirk, and he took off again, running faster and faster. He dodged trees and rocks with the slightest of ease, and the world blurred from view into a vast assortment of colors and stretched shapes. Knuckles tried to speak, but found it impossible to move his lips at this speed, so he remained silent as he ran through the forest. At one point, he ran straight past Sonic, who was resting for a second on a rock. Sonic looked up quickly at the sight of the red blur that'd zipped past him. The blur formed into a figure, as Knuckles slowed down, and then he skidded to a stop, similar in a way as how Sonic would. Sonic ran up to Knuckles, so they were face-to-face.

"What are _you _doing here?" Sonic demanded, "I thought you were with Tails!"

"It was boring sitting in there all morning, so he let me have a break," Knuckles replied with a smile.

"Would you stop that?" Sonic asked him. Knuckles raised a brow, but continued to smile.

"Stop what?" he questioned.

"That!" Sonic said, gesturing to Knuckles' face, "Stop smiling, it's freaking me out!"

"What, it's a crime for me to show I'm happy?" Knuckles asked jokingly.

"But you hardly ever smile!" Sonic pointed out, "Or joke around! What's going on with you?"

"I don't know," Knuckles said, "But whatever it is, I like it! I can finally show you a little competition!" he said, pointing a finger into Sonic's chest. Sonic huffed and glared up at Knuckles.

"So it's a fight you want, huh?" he demanded.

"Well, not entirely," Knuckles replied, "But now that you're making an offer, I just can't refuse!" he said, smirking deviously as he cracked his knuckles. Sonic stretched out his fingers and got down into a ready stance, and Knuckles did the same. Both stood in their spots, glaring for a second at each other, before Sonic made the first move. He ran forward with his fist balled, ready to punch Knuckles square in the face, but Knuckles simply stepped aside, and Sonic ran like a bullet straight past.

"That's it? Y'know, with my new speed, I was hoping this would be more of a challenge!" Knuckles said to Sonic. The hedgehog was seething with anger right about then, and he rushed at Knuckles again. He grabbed Knuckles by one of his dreadlocks and readied to throw him, like he did the other time, but Knuckles knew the trick by then, and he also grabbed Sonic by his top spine. When Sonic threw him, he went only a short distance, since he also ended up dragging himself with. The both of them fell to the floor, and Knuckles quickly got up while Sonic pondered how he was going to perform his next move.

"C'mon, get up! I refuse to start until you get off the floor!" Knuckles said, glaring down at Sonic. Sonic looked up at Knuckles with surprise in his eyes.

"No you don't, that's _my_ thing! Quit copying me!" Sonic shouted, and he was up in an instant and punched Knuckles in the stomach. Knuckles was doubled over for only a few seconds, before he stood tall again and glared at Sonic. The cocky blue hedgehog stood before him, his arms folded and a smirk upon his face.

Unexpectedly, Knuckles took off running away from Sonic, and Sonic stood straight and watched him run away.

"Coward! Come back and finish this!" he shouted back. When he did, Knuckles skidded to a stop and turned to face Sonic. Sonic was confused for a moment, as Knuckles looked at him from afar, before he rushed at Sonic at the speed of sound. Sonic gasped and shielded his face, expecting Knuckles to hit him or run into him, but instead, the echidna formed into a spinball and leapt high into the air only a few inches from his face. Sonic stared in amazement, as Knuckles flew for a few moments, then uncurled from the spinball and landed with ease a couple hundred feet away. He looked back at Sonic with a smile, then he spoke.

"Well, it's been fun, but I promised Tails only a 5 minute break. We'll continue this another time!" he shouted to the hedgehog, and he ran off, leaving Sonic in shock behind him.

* * *

Knuckles ran back inside and into Tails' room. In the short 5 minutes, he must've found something important, because the girls had all gathered in Tails' room, and they were all talking at once about something.

"H-Hey, what's going on?" Knuckles asked, and everyone looked up at him.

"Knuckles, great timing," Tails said, coming up to him and taking his hand. "Look, I found something very vital to the reasoning behind your newfound speed," he said as he led Knuckles to the computer.

"What about them? Do they know?" Knuckles asked, looking back at Amy, Cream, and Cosmo.

"It's ok, I told them," Tails said. "Here, look at this."

Sonic trudged back onto the ship, slowly, and he headed down the quiet halls to the ship. All the trip back, Sonic only thought of Knuckles' stunt a few moments ago. "How had he done that? I didn't even think he knew how to for m into a spinball! Well, granted, he could in Sonic and Knuckles… and Sonic the hedgehog 3 and Knuckles… and… I guess he did know how to do a spinball… but that still doesn't explain why he chose now of all times to bring back old moves of his!" Sonic continued to rant to himself, until he heard voices coming from Tails' room, and he thought he might as well figure out what was going on.

"What are you saying? Please speak English Tails?" Knuckles asked the fox, as Sonic walked in.

"Oh Sonic, there you are!" Amy exclaimed happily, and everyone else looked to the hedgehog.

"Sonic, I found out something important!" Tails said, and he explained what he'd just said in looser terms. "In short, the bug that bit Knuckles had DNA of you in it," he said, pointing to Sonic. "That's how Knuckles got his speed. He got it from you!" Sonic made a confused face and turned to look at Knuckles, who shrugged and made a small smile at him.

"B-But then… that would mean that Knuckles is as fast as Sonic, wouldn't it?" Amy asked Tails. The fox nodded in reply, and Amy looked to Sonic. Sonic was still glaring at Knuckles, with a very rare look in his eyes; anger. "S-Sonic?" Amy called, catching Sonic's attention. The hedgehog looked to her, his expression immediately changing.

"What?" he asked.

"You're not… jealous, are you?" she asked him. Sonic quickly stood up.

"Why does everyone suspect that I'm jealous?" he demanded to everyone in the room. "So Knuckles is as fast as I am now; so he's learning how to use his speed faster than I ever did; so what?" With that, Sonic stormed out of the room, leaving everyone silent. Knuckles stood up and headed towards the door.

"Knuckles, please, don't cause more trouble!" Tails pleaded. Knuckles stopped at the door and looked back at the girls and Tails.

"I'm not. I'm going to apologize," he said firmly, before he left the room. Everyone shared shocked expressions, and Amy spoke.

"Knuckles… apologizing?" she exclaimed, and she looked to Tails. "Something is definitely wrong with him!"

"Whoa whoa whoa Sonic, get back here!"

Knuckles ran, at a normal speed this time, towards Sonic. Sonic looked up at Knuckles and sighed, then looked back down at the ground.

"What do you want? To rub it in my face some more?" Sonic asked, a hint of sadness in his tone. Knuckles stopped in front of the cobalt hedgehog and made a small smile.

"I came to make amends," he replied. Sonic's eyes widened, and he looked up and stared at Knuckles like he'd grown a third limb or something. Knuckles noticed this and raised a brow. "What?" he asked.

"Y-You… want to _resolve_ the conflict?" Sonic exclaimed. Knuckles nodded and extended his hand to shake with Sonic. Sonic didn't take his hand, however, and continued to stare at Knuckles. "Something's seriously wrong with you… I mean it!" Sonic said to his ally. Knuckles shrugged, lowering his hand back down when Sonic never took it.

"Maybe I've decided to turn over a new leaf?" he suggested to the still surprised hedgehog. Sonic cocked one of his ears upon noticing something different.

"Hey, wait…" he said, and he pointed at Knuckles. "Y-Your voice… it sounds higher. Do you have a cold?" Knuckles shook his head no.

"Not that I'm aware of," he replied. His voice was a bit higher sounding, but he apparently hadn't noticed. But Sonic had.

Sonic brought his hand to his forehead and shook his head. "I don't know…" he muttered. "Listen, thanks for being understanding, but I… I-I've got to go," Sonic said, and he quickly turned and speed-walked away from Knuckles, feeling quite flustered and confused.

"Just what on earth is going on with Knuckles?"


	3. Chapter 3: Challenge Resolved

Sonic tossed and turned in his sleep, because he was having a nightmare.

_Sonic looked up. He was standing at the doorway to the X Tornado, although he hadn't remembered walking outside. _

"_That's strange… how did I end up out here?" he muttered, as he opened the door and walked inside. His ear pricked up when he heard the sound of voices, so he followed them to the ship's control room. When he walked inside, he froze and gasped. All of his friends were doing what they normally did, their jobs on the ship and talking to Sonic… except Sonic wasn't really Sonic. There was an imposter! Some other blue hedgehog, who looked just like him, was standing in front of his friends, speaking to them like he knew them for years. _

_The real Sonic gasped and ran up to them. "Guys, that's not me, he's a fake!" he shouted, but nobody paid any mind. It was as if they didn't even see or hear him! Sonic ran up to Tails, who'd gotten up and literally walked right past him to talk to the fake Sonic._

_Sonic shook Tails by the shoulders. "Tails, listen to me, I'm right here!" he practically shouted, but Tails completely ignored him as he shook the fox. Then he turned to the fake Sonic and began to talk to him as if nothing had even happened. Sonic's heart began to pump, as he backed away from the boy and stared at everyone in the room. He then glared at the fake Sonic. He was the only one who seemed to realize he was there, for he looked straight back at him. Sonic suddenly gasped in realization, when he noticed that the hedgehog's eyes were not green, like his own, but violet… violet, like a certain echidna's._

"_Y-You?" Sonic demanded. "You!" he was now angry, "You're a faker!" The blue hedgehog smirked at him, his classic, trademark smirk, and then he spoke._

"_I'm the new Sonic now," Knuckles said, his voice mirroring Sonic's._

"_Sonic, who you talkin to?" Amy asked._

_Knuckles looked to Amy. "Nobody," he replied. Sonic's eyes widened in fear and his ears fell to the sides of his head, as he backed further away from his friends._

"_No… no no NOOOO!" Sonic screamed, clutching at his head, and he fell to his knees and clenched his eyes shut. "This is all a dream! C'mon Sonic, wake up! Wake up!" _

Sonic jolted awake, panting heavily and looking around his unlit room. "Wake up…" he whispered, and he curled his knees up to his chest and stared at the wall for awhile to calm himself down, before he fell back into a restless sleep.

* * *

The next morning, Knuckles was fixing his bed-head quills in the mirror when he noticed something odd.

"Hmm?" he muttered in confusion, as he reached up and plucked a single blue hair from his head. "That's odd…" he muttered. "Must've fallen off Sonic."

Everyone gathered in the front of the ship for breakfast, and as everyone sat down with their food, Sonic shuffled in late without his gloves or shoes on, dark circles under his eyes from a lack of sleep. He sat down and grabbed an orange, and had begun to peel it, when Tails spoke up.

"Yikes Sonic… did you not sleep well?" he asked. Sonic gave Tails a slight glare, before he sighed and set the orange onto the table.

"No, I didn't sleep well at all. I had the worst nightmare," he said. He said nothing more and began to play with the peelings on the table with his finger for a moment. Cream spoke up awkwardly.

"Would you like to tell us about it Mr. Sonic? Talking always makes me feel better," she offered. Sonic looked up to Cream and his lip curled into a slight smile, but then he looked back down at the table.

"No, but thank you Cream," he said quietly. After a few moments of awkward silence, small conversations began to spark up again, and once people were no longer thinking about Sonic, the blue hedgehog snuck a glance over at Knuckles. He was sitting next to Tails, who was talking to him about something sciency. Knuckles nodded and agreed several times, and he even laughed once.

"_There is definitely something wrong with this guy…"_ Sonic thought. He knew, he'd thought that several times before, but now he knew, without a doubt, that something was going on.

"Hey, Tails?" Sonic spoke up, louder than anyone else at the table was talking, "Have you been able to figure out a way to fix what was going on with Knuckles yet?" All other conversation stopped and it grew so quiet that you could hear a pin drop from a yard away. Tails looked to Knuckles, who gave Tails a slight concerned look, and then back to Sonic.

"W-Well, Sonic, you see," Tails started, nervously scratching at the back of his neck, "I studied the DNA leftover in the robot time and time again, and I didn't find anything dangerous about it. W-We all kinda figured we didn't need to change him back," he replied, looking to the others for support.

Sonic didn't respond at first and gripped tightly at the side of the table, which made everyone think he was going to snap. Knuckles spoke up to try and calm the hedgehog down.

"Sonic, please don't get mad at Tails or anyone else! I asked Tails if I could stay this way, and he agreed. It was my fault, not his," he defended. The glare in Sonic's eyes did not soften, but he let go of the table and spoke.

"Alright, fine!" he said, his voice so calm it was scary. "Go ahead and make decisions behind my back! Maybe I might as well just leave, since you two like this new Knuckles so much more than me!" he snapped, getting up from the table and running in a supersonic second out of the room.

"Sonic!" Tails cried out, but he was long gone by then. The fox looked to Knuckles, who had a slight hurt expression on his face, before he looked to Tails and spoke.

"I'll go talk to him," he said, and he stood up and ran after Sonic.

Cosmo looked to Amy and spoke, after Knuckles left. "Knuckles sure is being very polite, taking responsibility like that," she said.

"That's just it though… Knuckles isn't usually this nice," Amy replied. She looked to Tails. "Are you sure you checked the evidence hard enough, because I really think that something about Knuckles is changing," she asked him. Tails shrugged.

"I never found anything," he said again. But then he gasped, after realizing something. "Unless…" he murmured, before he ran from the room, towards his laboratory. Confused and curious as to what he'd found out, the girls followed Tails.

* * *

Knuckles chased after Sonic, but Sonic only sped up to keep away from him. "Sonic, stop, please!" Knuckles shouted. Sonic suddenly, without warning, turned and went around behind Knuckles. Knuckles turned around to face the hedgehog as he rammed him into a wall, seething with anger.

"You're always trying to one-up me!" Sonic shouted in Knuckles' face. "I'm sick of you always getting all the attention, and making me look like the bad guy!" Knuckles lowered his eyes at Sonic and he spoke with venom in his voice.

"Then now you know how I've felt all these years, being number two at everything," he said, and he pushed Sonic off of him and walked away. Sonic's eyes softened, as he watched Knuckles leave, and his anger began to turn into guilt. He lowered his ears and looked down at the ground.

"Why does everything have to turn out badly with me?" he muttered, and he walked after Knuckles. "Knuckles? Knuckles, wait," Sonic said, as he grabbed Knuckles' shoulder and turned him around. "Look, I'm sorry, ok?" Sonic apologized, "I had no idea this was how you always felt," he admitted. "Maybe I am jealous." Knuckles looked at Sonic with serious eyes, but he nodded.

"I'm sorry I made you jealous… it's just… It felt so great, being able to do something you could do for once… I didn't mean to overdo it," he said. Before he had a chance to say anything more, Sonic pulled him into a hug.

"I could still beat you in a race if I tried," Sonic whispered over Knuckles' shoulder, and the two broke from the brief hug.

"We'll just see about that!" Knuckles challenged, and the two of them ran towards the door, to take this outside. The two stopped, as they waited for the door to open, and they looked to each other.

"Are we good now? Are we friends?" Sonic asked, extending a hand to Knuckles. Knuckles smiled and took his hand.

"Friends," he replied, and they shook hands. But suddenly, Sonic threw Knuckles backwards and took off running, calling back as he did.

"You're still just as gullible as ever!" Knuckles got back to his feet and took off running.

Once he caught up with Sonic, he looked to his spiky friend and spoke.

"That was a dirty trick!" he shouted over the roaring wind. Sonic laughed into the thin air.

"I know!" he replied, and he took off faster.

* * *

Sonic and Knuckles were taking a break for a moment. For now, the race had to be put on hold, because they both kept tying. As the two sat and talked, Sonic noticed something and squinted at Knuckles.

"Hey, Knux, what's this?" Sonic asked, as he reached forward and took Knuckles' arm in his hand.

"What?" Knuckles asked.

"That?" Sonic replied, gesturing to the small patch of blue fur on Knuckles' lower arm. Knuckles raised a brow confusedly and brought his arm closer to his eyes, to inspect it.

"Maybe I spilled something on my fur earlier on?" he murmured.

"The color looks just like my fur!" Sonic said placing his arm next to his to show the similarity. Confused, Knuckles stood up and looked down at himself. He gasped when he found several other small patches of blue fur on other spots of his body.

"Wh… what the heck is going on?" Knuckles exclaimed. He removed one glove, and his mouth gaped at the sight of his hand. His entire hand was blue, not a single patch of red left! Knuckles dropped his glove to the ground and stared at his hands. Sonic also stood up and came up to Knuckles. Without a word, he began to shove Knuckles on his way.

"What're you doing?" Knuckles demanded.

"You're coming back to Tails' lab right now," Sonic replied with a serious tone, and the two took off towards the ship.


	4. Chapter 4: Bigger Changes Now

Tails closely examined the blue hairs sprouting from Knuckles' arms and hands, and looked to Knuckles and Sonic with his conclusion.

"As I suspected," he started, as he went to his computer and began to type. "…Since you were injected with Sonic's DNA, it is confusing the cells in your body, and your own DNA is conforming to Sonic's," he said, as he continued to type. Sonic and Knuckles looked to each other with nervous eyes, then back to Tails.

"M-Meaning...?" Sonic asked. Tails ceased his typing and slowly looked up at the two boys.

"Meaning… Knuckles is turning more and more into a Sonic clone with every passing day," he said, to Sonic and Knuckles' dismay.

"But… but…" Knuckles stammered, trying to process what he'd learned. "But I don't want to turn into him!" he cried, pointing to Sonic, before adding, "No offence."

Sonic nodded back at him. "None taken. I don't want you to turn into me either!" He looked to Tails quickly and continued. "So is there any way to change him back?" he asked.

"There is," Tails said, and both the boys sighed in relief. "But…" Tails continued, "We only have a little while to do it," he said. "We need to have a sample of Knuckles' old DNA for it to work, and once his entire DNA is changed, it won't be able to be reversed," he explained.

"How much time does that leave us with?" Knuckles asked. Tails turned back to his computer and began to type, to find the answer. A few moments later, he gasped and looked to them with a nervous face.

"Only five days," he replied. Both Sonic and Knuckles' mouths gaped in shock.

"Five days? That's no time at all!" Sonic exclaimed.

"How long do you think the procedure would take if five days isn't enough?" Knuckles asked.

"It all depends," Tails replied. "Sometimes it could only take a few hours, but it depends on how well your body reacts to the treatment. I'd need to get a sample of your DNA and recreate it into a serum and-,"

Sonic interrupted Tails and spoke loudly. "Ok, please, skip all the science talk! If we only have five days, we might as well get started now!" he said.

"You're right!" Tails agreed, and he quickly walked over to a drawer and pulled out a tube. "Ok Knuckles, I need you to spit in here," he told the echidna, who raised his brow in confusion.

"Why spit?" he asked.

"It's the fastest way to get a load of your DNA. You want me to have you pee in it instead?" Tails asked with lowered eyelids. Knuckles quickly shook his head no and grabbed the tube, and he quickly spat inside it and gave it back to Tails, who rushed it to a microscope. "You two aren't needed at the moment. Now I need to remove the DNA, which might take an hour or so. Go somewhere else so you don't bother me," Tails told them, as he squinted into the microscope lens and adjusted the focus. Sonic nodded and took Knuckles' arm, and the two left the fox in peace.

A few steps outside the door, Knuckles leaned up against the wall and sat down, bringing his knees up to his chest.

"What am I going to do if Tails can't do it in time?" he murmured.

"Hey! That's quitter talk mister!" Sonic replied, standing over Knuckles. "The Knuckles I know would never admit defeat!" Knuckles looked up at Sonic with a straight face, but Sonic could detect obvious worry in Knuckles' eyes. Sonic sighed and crouched down by Knuckles, placing a gloved hand on the echidna's shoulder.

"Don't worry. Tails will be able to cure you, I can promise you that," he said kindly. Knuckles continued to look up at Sonic, but then he closed his eyes tight and hid his face in his knees. Sonic stroked Knuckles' shoulder and spoke kindly. "It's alright, you can cry if you have to," he said with a small smile. But then he realized that Knuckles' flank was shivering under his touch, and he removed his hand. That's when Knuckles looked up from his knees, and he gripped at his head, a look of pain plastered on his face.

"K-Knuckles? What's wrong?" Sonic cried. Knuckles moaned in agony, as he dug his blue fingers into his head. He was pushing so hard that his fingertips were turning white, and Sonic grew worried. "Knuckles, stop! You're hurting yourself!" he cried, and he ripped one of Knuckles' hands away from his head. Knuckles practically screamed this time, and he spoke with a shaky voice.

"M-My head… i-it feels l-like it's being ripped a-apart!" he cried. Sonic didn't know what to do, so he shouted for Tails. A few moments later, Tails rushed out to see what the shouting was for, and he saw Knuckles squeezing his head and screaming in pain.

"Knuckles! Sonic, what's happening?" Tails exclaimed, as he ran up to him and felt at Knuckles' forehead.

"I-I don't know!" Sonic replied, "He just started screaming. He said it felt like his head was being ripped apart! What do we do?" Sonic cried, as he began to freak out and hyperventilate.

"Sonic, just relax!" Tails shouted, shoving the overreacting hedgehog away from him. Tails lifted Knuckles' head up so he could look him in the eyes, and he spoke slowly and clearly to him. "I'm sorry to have to do this Knux. Maybe this will give you a little more comfort," Tails said, and he injected Knuckles with a shot of morphine that quickly made him fall asleep.

"What'd you do to him?" Sonic worriedly asked, peering over the fox's shoulder after Knuckles was out.

"I gave him a sedative," Tails replied, "Now help me move him to his room." Sonic nodded and helped Tails lift Knuckles and move him to his bedroom.

* * *

Knuckles moaned, as he began to come to, and woke up to find himself in his own bed again. He touched his forehead, which still pounded. He couldn't remember much of before, but when he saw that his entire arm was blue now, he was quickly reminded, and he gasped. He quickly stood up and ran to his bathroom. He moved the mirror, so he could see his reflection, and his mouth gaped in shock, a small yelp escaping his lips.

"OH MY GOD!"

The scream echoed through the entire ship, and caught Sonic's ear. It sounded like it came from Knuckles' room, and he didn't waste time getting over there to figure out why Knuckles was screaming. He ran into the open door, but found Knuckles wasn't in his room.

"Knuckles?" Sonic called. No reply came.

Knuckles looked away from the mirror and brought a hand to his throat, murmuring, "M-My voice…" when he realized that his voice sounded just like Sonic's.

Sonic heard a small voice from Knuckles' bathroom, and he walked over to the room and opened the door.

Knuckles heard the doorknob turning, and he whirled around to face Sonic, his eyes wide in shock. Sonic looked up and immediately froze, his hand still on the doorknob, as he stared at Knuckles with a mirrored shocked face.

Knuckles' entire body was blue now, with no red fur left anywhere, and perched on top of his head was a pair of hedgehog ears. He looked nearly like Sonic, besides his tail was still lightning bolt-shaped, his eyes were still violet, and he still had his dreadlocks and crescent moon marking. Sonic's mouth hung open for a few more seconds, before he let his hand fall to his side and he spoke.

"K-Knuckles?" he murmured nervously. Knuckles still stared back at Sonic silently, his mouth trying to form words, but he couldn't get them to come out. He backed a couple of steps away from Sonic, but Sonic stepped forward again, and grabbed Knuckles by the arm. "H-Hey… are you ok?" Sonic asked him. Knuckles' shoulders shrugged up and he looked down at the floor, his new ears folding flat against his head in humiliation. "What's wrong? I'm not mad at you, just… surprised," Sonic admitted, "I figured this was going to happen sooner or later." Knuckles took in a deep, shaky breath, as he held back the fear in his voice.

"I-I'm sorry," he murmured, just loud enough that Sonic could hear the change in Knuckles' voice. Sonic was flustered by this, but he didn't try to show it, to make his friend feel less self-conscious.

"Wow…" he muttered under his breath. "Does my voice always sound that… nasal?" he asked him humorously with a smile, to try and lighten the mood. Knuckles huffed and smiled, but he still looked very distraught. "Hey. C'mon, let's go see Tails," Sonic offered. "It's alright, you look fine," he said, tugging at Knuckles' arm to try and get him to leave his bathroom.

"No, please, don't!" Knuckles exclaimed, grabbing at the counter so Sonic couldn't drag him out of the room.

"Knuckles, everyone's going to have to see you sooner or later! Stop being a chicken and let go already!" Sonic said, as he tugged at his arm again. Then he got an idea; if he was turning more and more into him, maybe he did know a way to get him to let go. Sonic smirked and reached under Knuckles' arm, and he began to tickle the inside of his arm. Knuckles started to laugh, and Sonic's smirk grew and he continued to tickle him. "Let go and I'll stop!" Sonic taunted, as Knuckles laughed harder.

"Okay, okay! Uncle, uncle!" Knuckles cried, and Sonic stopped. Knuckles caught his breath and then looked up at Sonic.

"How did you know I'd give up by tickling me?" he asked. Sonic still smiled and shrugged.

"I'm very ticklish there as well. I figured since you were turning into me, you're probably sensitive where I am," he replied. Knuckles lowered his eyes at him.

"That was low!" he said bitterly.

"Now c'mon, or I'll tickle you again!" Sonic threatened with a smile.


	5. Chapter 5: He's Going to Pay

"Well, that would explain the terrible pain in your head last evening," Tails said, as he stood on a chair to examine Knuckles' new hedgehog ears. "…You had a pair of ears growing from your head," the fox continued, looking to Knuckles with a smirk to try and cheer him up. Knuckles sat on a chair, with his hands folded on his lap and a faint blush tingeing his cheeks a pink hue.

"Have you figured a way to change me back yet?" Knuckles asked the fox, as he stepped down from the chair and went to his computer.

"I examined the DNA sample of yours. There isn't a large surplus of your regular DNA, but there definitely is some," Tails recapped, and he looked to a test tube near his computer. "I separated the DNA cells of Sonic's from your own cells, and left them to multiply, so there'd be enough for an injection," Tails said, as he picked up the test tube carefully.

"Looks like a tube full of water to me," Sonic commented, as he took a close look at it.

"The clear liquid you see, although it may look like water, is not. Inside this liquid are the millions of extracted cells that make up Knuckles' whole DNA complex," Tails retorted.

"So… does that mean that it's ready for use?" Knuckles nervously asked.

"Sadly, no," Tails replied, setting the test tube down again. "The cells haven't multiplied enough. The moment it reaches 50 milligrams on the test tube, then they will be ready," he said.

"How long will that take?" Sonic asked cautiously.

"I estimate about another six hours or so," Tails replied. Knuckles suddenly fell off his chair and landed on the ground.

"Six hours?" he exclaimed, getting up off the floor. "I-I don't think I have six hours! I'm more than half-way changed by now!"

"Yeah Tails, look at him!" Sonic defended, gesturing to Knuckles. "His white mark is beginning to disappear as we speak!" Knuckles looked down, and sure enough, the white crescent marking on his chest was turning a peachy-tan color, like Sonic's muzzle and belly. It was also larger in size, as if the marking was spreading downward.

"I-I'm sorry! I'll see what I can do, but just give it a little more time!" Tails cried.

"I've gotta go run for awhile," Knuckles said, as he began to grow antsy, and he took off.

"Knuckles, stop!" Sonic cried, as he took off after him. "You have to stay here!"

* * *

Knuckles ran at high speeds through the forest. He zipped around rocks and trees with ease, as he began trying to clear his mind of what was going on.

"_I'm never going to get changed back. I'm going to be stuck as a Sonic clone for the rest of my life!"_ he thought, as he felt a tingling go down his tail. He looked back, to find it was straightening itself out and turning into a hedgehog tail. When Knuckles looked forward again, he yelped when he saw the tree rushing at him. He ran straight into the tree and fell to the ground with a loud thump. He stared up at the sky, his chest heaving as he caught his breath. His crescent mark was now replaced by a tan belly, like Sonic's, and the new tan fur gleamed in the sunlight.

Knuckles just sat there, groaning in pain for a few seconds, before he sat up and began to massage his head with one hand.

"This is all Eggman's fault!" he muttered under his breath. He pushed himself to his feet. "All Eggman's fault…" he muttered again, bitterness on his tongue. He looked to one side, where in the distance, over the trees, he could see the black frame of one of Eggman's bases. "This is all your fault Eggman!" Knuckles shouted in the base's direction, and he then looked back at the ground with clenched teeth. Breathing heavily through his mouth, Knuckles growled under his throat and turned in the direction of the base, clenching his fists as he stormed forward.

"Knuckles!" Sonic called. He looked back and forth and sprinted a couple hundred feet further and called his name again. But again, no reply was heard. "Oh, where did that stupid echidna- er- hedgehog go?" he spoke to himself. That's when Sonic heard a loud shout over the distance. It sounded like his own voice, which could only mean it was Knuckles.

"Knuckles!" Sonic shouted again, and he ran in the direction of the shout. A few moments later, he stopped in front of another one of Eggman's bases. Sonic gasped upon sight of the outside; millions of shattered robots were strewn everywhere, some still sparking. Several close to the door had a hole punched through the robot's core. "Knuckles is here," Sonic murmured to himself, clenching his fist. "_When will that Knucklehead ever use his brain_?" he though, as he ran inside the busted-down door into Eggman's base.

* * *

**Hey all my readers, sorry about the really short chapter, but I'm struggling with writer's block, and I'm completely un-motivated to update my stories right now. I'll try to add new chapters, but I've been busy recently spending my time at school with the new semester and all, and with my new boyfriend.**

**I'm also kinda stumped about the ending to this story. I'd maybe like a few suggestions, if you wish to help me? I think I'm just getting lazy... :P**

**Sorry about my laziness, sincerely**

**~Super-sonic Iblish**


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